Contents

Description

Myrtenaster is standard-sized for a rapier and primarily silver-gray in color. The hilt possesses four prongs that encase the revolver-like chamber around the ricasso instead of a bow type hand-guard that is common among most rapiers, in a manner somewhat alike to a swept hilt. This mechanism can be controlled by the sword-hand, enabling her to seamlessly cycle the chamber in combat. When Weiss carries the weapon on her hip it is sometimes seen with only two prongs as the other two fold away for easier storage.

Myrtenaster's mechanics.

Myrtenaster open.

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There are six slots in total, each of which contains a vial of Dust. The revolving chamber is constantly stocked with red, cyan, violet, white, yellow and blue Dust. Sometimes, when Weiss uses Dust, the blade glows in the color of the Dust she is using, but so far, this has only been seen with red Dust. In the "White" Trailer, white runes appear along the blade just before her final attack, but it is unknown if this function was scrapped or kept canon.

Myrtenaster is highly durable, slashing away at the Arma Gigas with no visible wear on the blade.

Myrtenaster's most prominent ability lies in the revolver-like mechanism held within the hilt, which contains various colors of Dust, activated by a trigger on the underside of one of the prongs. The mechanism can be opened on a hinge, allowing Weiss to replace empty vials. As a result, the weapon appears to have no tang.

Dust Use

Weiss utilizes raw Dust in combat. Her preferred method is to insert vials of powdered Dust into Myrtenaster's revolving chamber. With a pull of the trigger, she can release Dust onto Myrtenaster's blade, or even combine Dust with her Semblance.

Fire projectiles - In "Dread in the Air", she uses glyphs to shoot fireballs that she forms from Dust.

Ice - Blue Dust; Weiss is seen using ice Dust in a variety of ways:

Ice crystals - First seen in the "White" Trailer, Weiss has shown the capability to create a wall of ice crystals on the ground. She displays the strategy of using a wall of ice to trap an opponent multiple times, such as when she traps the Arma Gigas' feet in the "White" Trailer and the Nevermore's tail in "Players and Pieces". In "Never Miss a Beat", she uses ice crystals as projectiles.

Sheet ice - First seen in "Painting the Town...", Weiss has shown the capability to form a thin sheet of ice on the ground.

With glyphs - In "Painting the Town...", Weiss places glyphs in front of Ruby'sCrescent Rose to cause the bullets fired through the glyphs to erupt into ice crystals upon impact with the Atlesian Paladin-290. In "No Brakes", she uses a glyph to force the ice into a dome shape and encase her team, protecting them from a powerful impact. In "Breach", she uses a glyph to shape the ice into a giant sword. In "Dread in the Air", she uses her glyphs to summon ice rays and direct them towards the Lancers.

Lightning - Yellow Dust

With glyphs - In "Painting the Town...", Myrtenaster's blade takes on a yellow glow and then fires a yellow streak onto the ground beneath Blake, resulting in a time dilation glyph, which speeds up its target's movements.

Hard-Light - Cyan Dust; Weiss is seen using Hard-Light Dust in a variety of ways:

Barriers - In "No Brakes", she draws a blue circle in the air with Myrtenaster, creating an invisible barrier that gives off light blue shockwaves upon being struck. In "Battle of Beacon", she appears to use a barrier to knock White Fang members away from herself.

With glyphs- Weiss creates five to six glyphs in front of her, and uses them to fire cyan-colored projectiles that curve through the air and strike her opponent. She is first seen using this in the series proper in "Players and Pieces".

Wind - White Dust; First seen in "Never Miss a Beat", when she uses it to produce a whirlwind from Myrtenaster to hold off Flynt Coal'sattack.

It appears that Dust behaves differently in the "White" Trailer than in the series, possibly due to it still being an early concept when the trailer was made. Therefore, some of the things Weiss is seen using it for in the "White" Trailer may no longer be possible in the series.

Trivia

According to early concept art of Weiss and her weapon, it seems that Myrtenaster did not have a conventional hilt, but instead possessed a classic gun shape, with the barrel lengthening into the blade and a magazine or grip behind where the Dust was supposedly loaded.

Myrtenaster only has red Dust here

2D art of Myrtenaster with only red Dust

Red-only version of Myrtenaster mistakenly used in the "White" Trailer

The design that came after this was almost exactly the same as the final version used now in the series, except all of the Dust was red but still had different effects. Monty had even gone so far as to make and texture a model of this red Dust version. This was all because he felt that red went well with Weiss' design, as well as the fact that, design-wise, he was uncomfortable with having a character with a set color palette walking around with "a rainbow" on them. In the end, he decided that, as much as it pained him, it would be better for the audience's sake if he made Dust color-coded.[2]

Myrtenaster (Myrten Aster) is German for a family of flowers (Myrtle) that are typically found to be white, but can come in a variety of other colors.

Unusually, despite Weiss being left-handed, she holsters Myrtenaster on her left-hand side. This stems from Myrtenaster's origins as a pistol as well as a sword.[3]

Unlike many common rapiers, Myrtenaster does not have a knuckle guard or quillons, possibly due to the hilt configuration. It also does not have a particularly heavy pommel.

Myrtenaster can be seen simultaneously as the most static and dynamic of all the weapons in RWBY. Despite Weiss' rapier never changing its physical form, since she can change her Semblance's effects using the Dust loaded inside, it can adapt to many situations.

According to the Volume 3 DVD Director's Commentary, Weiss based Myrtenaster off of Winter's Weapon that used to be two individual rapiers.[4]

Whenever Weiss charges with her weapon, a high-pitched screech can be heard.

A Myrtenaster replica was used in the Rooster Teeth video series Ten Little Roosters, in the possession of Miles Luna to defend himself against the murderer. However, he drops it in a panic when confronted by a puma.

In 2017, a replica of Myrtenaster was made by blacksmiths on the YouTube series Man At Arms: Reforged. It included a small charge built in the cylinder to give it the effect of using dust.[5]